Macedonian Minister Tightens EU Timetable

Teuta Arifi | Photo by: SEP

During her first adress before the Parliamentary Commission on the EU, Teuta Arifi announced a September 5 deadline for all ministries to complete the reforms that Brussels has requested for this year.

The European Commission is to issue its annual progress report in October and Macedonia hopes that it will contain, for a third time in a row, a recommendation for the country to start its EU accession talks.

But this summer Brussels noted several issues that Skopje's government must fix if a positive report is to be secured. These are mainly shortcomings concerning the judiciary, profesionalisation of the civil service and ensuring greater media freedom.

“We received a list of short-term requirements from the EU enlargement directorate,” Arifi said before the parliament commission. "A good deal of them are already in their final phase [of completion] and I think that we will have a positive portfolio."

Arifi took up the job in July after the early general elections held in June.

She noted at Thursday's meeting that solving the name dispute is another “crucial” issue that Brussels hopes will be settled, but that “other obligations in terms of harmonization [of the local legislation] with the European laws, should not be underestimated”.

The EC gave Macedonia the green light to begin accession talks in 2009, but the country has still not received a start date because of a Greek blockade in the EU Council of Ministers where Athens, as a member state, has a veto.

Greece and Macedonia are locked in an almost two decades long dispute about the use of the name Macedonia. Athens insists that Skopje’s official use of this name implies territorial claims against its own northern province that is also called Macedonia.

Due to the unresolved bilateral issue, Greece since 2008 is also blocking Macedonia’s accession to NATO.

Speaking about the name dispute, Arifi suggested that Macedonia’s verbally expressed good will for a settlement with Greece within the UN-led name talks is not enough.

“I am not saying that we are not doing things well, but at the same time, there are some things that can be unpleasant that we have to face. Now is the time when the political elite [of Macedonia] should seriously face these problems,” Arifi said.

Both Macedonia and Greece are committed towards finding a compromise solution trough the UN led talks. However, their meetings so far have not yealded any significant breaktrough.

Arifi comes from the ranks of the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, a junior partner in the VMRO DPMNE party led government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

DUI leader Ali Ahmeti last week called on increased international support for solving the name issue.

After wining another four year term in June elections, Gruevski for the first time proposed a DUI nominee to this post, which was previously filled by his VMRO DPMNE.